Northern Light
by BuggyFiction
Summary: After an encounter between his brother and his latest charge Bella in a tea shop, Kol is sent to investigate the owner. Much to his surprise, the owner is somewhat a handful and despite his second chance as a witch, he fears that maybe he's in over his head. COMPANION FIC TO NEON LIGHT BY MEEKOBB
1. I didn't ask for this

**A/N: This story is a companion piece to Meekobb's Neon Light. You can find it here on ffnet with that username. This story starts off during and after chapter 4 of that story. So read that first before you read this.**

 **This chapter doesn't hold any significant details for her story, but I suggest you read it anyway because a) it's awesome and b) you'll get lost otherwise.**

 **Before you ask, yes, I have her permission to play with characters of her story that don't really get used, this is simply a means of telling the story from another point of view.**

 **Expect an update to this story when she updates Neon Light.**

 **ps: Happy Birthday, Meeko!**

* * *

She had always known that Bella would come to her for help, but never known _when_. Only that when she needed help, she'd find her. And in all honesty, Ann wished that she hadn't.

She had carved the symbol that Bella had made disappear back into the door and had closed for the day while she rearranged her herbs and ready made teas just to clear her mind. The encounter with Bella and her viking had given her a headache.

Ann had been unable to filter whatever she said, often not realizing what she told the girl and was trying to recount the conversation, because it had been a very heated one. Had she really told a complete stranger to flap her wings and to fly off? The idea alone made her laugh out loud. That was so stupid.

She turned on the radio on full blast and burned some sage to cleanse the shop like she always did. It was a practise that she had learned from her grandparents, she wasn't sure if it worked and why, maybe it was superstition or whatever, but the sage at least smelled nice. And after today, the shop could really use a good cleanse.

Sweeping the floors with a broom, she loudly sang along to the songs playing on the radio and cleared her mind as she inhaled the sage. Why was she so sure that Bella's friend, Elijah, was a viking? Surely she'd imagined the runes appearing on his forehead. Bella didn't seem to see anything.

On top of that, while her grandparents had taught her how to read runes, she wasn't that well versed in it - but they still appeared on the guy's forehead! She had seen it with her own two eyes. Well, four, considering she was wearing glasses.

Ann had always been slightly peculiar, and she had been teased in school because of it, but she always came out on top, ignoring the bullies. Her grandparents had been a great support to her and thanks to them, she was now the owner of their old tea shop. Ann went to study herbology and mixology and changed the teas they were selling in the shop - expanding on her knowledge of herbs and what went well together.

She'd travelled the world for six months with a group of wiccans, and learned more about the healing properties of herbs, which made her teas better. They'd become so much better and while she often got outlandish looking types into her shop to get some of the rarer herbs that she was selling for teas, she always felt safe.

Ann thought of herself as a modern day hippie when it came to her teas. And how she lived her life. Grounded. She meditated in the morning, and whenever she felt like it to calm herself, and she liked to tend to her garden in the backyard, where most of her herbs were growing. She liked going for walks in the Bayou for other ingredients and she made everything herself. Well, apart from all the pottery and bags stuff. She had to order those.

She knew Bella didn't like her, she made it abundantly clear that she didn't like _seers_. Ann wasn't one, but if the girl thought she was, then sure. She was a seer. But she knew that the girl would be back one day. Or at least some of her friends.

There was a knock on the door when she was nearly done cleaning. "I'm closed!" She called out. "Come back tomorrow!"

"I need your help!" the voice called back from the other side of the door. "They're chasing me and I have no idea where else to run!"

Ann sighed. Sometimes, just sometimes, even regular people found her shop when they were in trouble. And had it been a woman's voice, she would have opened the door immediately and pulled her in, but this was a man's voice. "Don't you have a phone you can use to call the cops?"

"Please, please allow me in," the man sounded panicked.

It was still daylight, so what could possibly go wrong? She was simply acting like this because the conversation with Bella had rattled her. She needed more tea. She put the kettle on the stove and moved to the door to open it, revealing a young man with a big, bright smile on his face. "You're not in trouble, are you?"

"I am if I don't look after you," he replied and extended his hand. "Kol Mikaelson, pleasure to meet you."

She stared at him for a moment and shook her head. "You're not a Mikaelson."

"I am and if you allow me inside your lovely little shop, despite you being closed at this hour, I shall tell you everything you wish to know," he replied.

Ann sighed. How could she resist such a kind, friendly and handsome face? "You better not be a serial killer," she said as she took a step back to allow him in. "I was just in the process of making tea, would you like some?"

"Please and thank you."

He was tall. She had to look up to him as he passed her so she could close the door again. He was gorgeous and she had to remind herself that he was a stranger and she couldn't simply jump his bones, although she expected that sex would be the only thing to relax her right now. Not even meditation could shake off the feeling of being this confused and worked up about something. She didn't even like sex.

She moved towards her counter and finished making her tea, a calming, relaxing one with Chamomile and Lily of the valley, and one for her guest; Violet, to protect her from any harm and to create an open atmosphere, and Lavender to render whatever wrong energy there was in his system a little useless.

She brought the cups to the table where he had already taken a seat and placed his tea in front of him. "You can remove the bag in a moment, it needs to steep."

"Violet and Lavender, how adorable," he grinned at her. "Trust me, I mean you no harm."

His British accent was to die for. "Then tell me, Kol Mikaelson, why are you here?" She sat down in a chair opposite of him and watched him. "You're not here for my tea."

"Like I said; I came to see if you were alright," he replied. "My brother told me about the little adventure he and his new girlfriend had with you."

She added some sugar to her hot tea and sighed. "No, you came to see if I was going to give you and your family trouble after that encounter."

"Hold on, darling," Kol snorted. "Let's get one thing straight; I didn't come. I was sent. Mostly because my brother's new girlfriend doesn't like me and they want me out of their way. Also because I'm a witch and have a lot of experience with witches."

"I'm not a witch."

"Sure you're not," he huffed. "I've did some asking around before I came here, you're quite known in the witch community for your teas, your extensive collection of herbs, ones that normal artisan tea shops don't work with." He pointed at the tea in front of him. "You didn't give me a Violet and Lavender tea because you thought I would like it, you gave it to me to be truthful and open to you. Make sure that there's no deception coming out of me."

She watched as he forced the water through the little tea bag with a little push of magic so that the tea was thoroughly steeped, before removing the bag and downed the tea in one go.

"And I don't care," he said as he set down the tea. "Although next time, I should add some sugar. I mean, even though the Violet is sweet, sweeter than I've ever tasted, it still doesn't really cut the extreme Lavender flavor."

"Whatever, I'm still not a witch," Ann replied, hiding how impressed she was by his action. How forthcoming he was and not afraid. "I can assure you that I'm not going to be a burden to your family, I like my little corner and I don't like conflict," she added. "However, I do hear a lot of stories coming from people like yourself, and the stories about your family don't jive with what I'm seeing in front of me. You're not a vampire so you can't be a Mikaelson."

"Oh, don't let my sister Freya hear that," he said with a slight chuckle. "You're right, this is not my Original body. I was killed as a vampire and my wretched mother brought me back into this body. It belongs to a bloke called Kaleb Westphall."

"Why did your mother bring you back?"

"Oh, to do some nasty things that I didn't really felt like doing, it's a long story but everything's fine now," he replied casually. "So, your turn. Why were you and Bella fighting?"

"We weren't," Ann replied, shaking her head. "I don't know how to explain it, but I knew she would come here," she removed the bag from her cup and placed it on the saucer before stirring in the sugar. "I knew who she was and that she would come. I've known for quite a while now, so when it actually happened, I wasn't prepared for this… I don't know… pull? Connection? It was as if she was in my head and I was in hers. It was very freaky." She took a sip of her tea. "Might have said some weird shit."

"Interesting, has it happened before?"

"What? That I saw stuff coming?" When Kol nodded, she shrugged. "I guess. It happens every once in awhile, but I never really stopped to think about it. It just happens. Deja vu feeling and all that."

"You're a witch, stop denying it."

"I'm not. I studied herbology and mixology and got my degree in that. I travelled with some wiccans to learn more. I worked for my knowledge. And I suppose the books that my grandparents had helped a lot too. I know what I mix and how to mix it and it just happens that my teas do what they're supposed to do."

"Fine, then go through the encounter you had with Bella with me. Tell me everything and don't leave anything out."

"Why?"

"Because I happen to like witches and I only want to help."

"But I'm not a witch!" She said angrily.

"Drink some more of your tea, darling, and tell me the entire story." When she was done talking, he was quiet for a moment. "You are a witch. Whether you like it or not. You don't seem to possess any magic like I do, telekinesis and all that, but the evidence is right here in this shop. Give someone else all the herbs you have here and they'd brew godawful teas and they wouldn't do anything where they would work with you. You knew Bella was coming through the power of premonition."

"Yeah, that's bullshit, sorry," she said as she got up and cleared the table. "Would you like some more tea?"

"Is it going to turn me into a frog?"

Ann huffed. "No," she rinsed the cups and prepared new bags while she allowed the water to come back to a boil. "This won't do anything, just tastes nice. Well, it's supposed to give you protection."

Kol made his way over to her counter and looked at the herbs, intrigued in its variety and all the species. For some, she even had the subspecies as they'd have another effect, and he was in awe. "So witches come here to get some of your herbs?"

"Yeah, some of these are hard to get, but I grow them myself, so I don't care."

"You must earn a lot of money, then."

"I don't do this for the money, I do this to help people," she poured the water over the tea bags and looked at him. "My grandfather used to say that money corrupts. It's only there to aid you so you can feed yourself, but if you're doing things for the sake of money, your heart will be corrupted. Your head. I only ask for the bare minimum when people come and buy my tea or herbs. It's enough to cover the time spent making sure that I have everything in stock and to buy new seeds when need to."

"How do you feed yourself?"

"By going to the grocery store and buy my food like any other normal person. I lunch at the Sjomannskirke down the road on Saturday where they serve rice porridge. I've been doing that ever since I was little, going with my grandparents and all. The church also sells some food, so I get some things there. And no, I'm not religious, it's merely a force of habit."

"You're Norwegian then?"

Ann shrugged. "Grandfather told me that our family can be traced back all the way to the 10th century where a family travelled from the Old World to the New World. We've never left this country since their arrival."

"Where are your parents?"

"They died on a holiday to Norway. Mom had been the first to leave the States since our arrival all these centuries ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she smiled at him as she pulled the tea bags out of the cups. "I was very young, I hardly remember them anyway. Besides, grandfather always said we were meant to be here, and not to leave. Just in case. I don't know why. Maybe we just have a bad case of bad luck," she handed Kol a cup of tea. "Licorice and Myrtle."

"Are you sure you're not trying to seduce me, Ann?" He winked at her. "Commanding the Myrtle for fertility?"

"Actually, the intention was once again protection and healing. I usually give out tea made with Rose, orange blossoms and Rosemary for seducing purposes," she replied with a grin on her face. "Why? Are you offering?"

Kol was taken aback for a moment. Why not? He had gotten yet again a chance of a new life and he hadn't had sex in _ages_ , so why not? "Would you like it to be an offer?"

Ann swallowed hard and didn't know where to look. "I uhm… I…" she blushed furiously as she reached for the sugar pot and put a lot of sugar in her tea.

"It's alright, darling, I know I have a handsome face and a great body. You're not so bad looking yourself. Why not? We're both adults," he teased her as he set down the cup and walked towards her. She skittishly backed up until she couldn't go any further and he didn't stop advancing until he was nose to nose to her. "How about dinner after?"

Oh, she was torn. What had started as a joke, because he was easy on the eyes and he seemed nice, was now turning into something serious. But she didn't do one night stands. She hated them, because it was always awkward afterwards. But she needed a release that meditation couldn't give her, so she was very tempted. "Not today," she squeaked, ducking underneath his arms to get away from him. "But you could stay for dinner, if you want to."

She reached for her tea and kept her eyes on Kol, who was now looking at her in a different light and it made her feel all tingly on the inside in a good way. And dammit, there was a spark, wasn't there? "So uhm, are you staying? For dinner? We could order in?"

"Sure," he said with a nod. "Then you can show me one of your grandfather's books, if you'd like. I'm keen to know more about how you work, what makes you tick."

"Still not convinced I'm no threat to your family, huh?"

"Oh, you're not," he huffed as he took a sip of his tea. "I'm more interested in you now."

Ann wasn't too sure about inviting him upstairs to her home, so she brought some of the books downstairs for him to look through while they ate some Chinese food. She had never met anyone who was genuinely interested in what she had to say, that what she had learned from her grandfather wasn't strange at all. That, in fact, he had been teaching her to protect herself and others with magic.

Maybe she was a witch, after all.

She watched Kol in fascination as he got excited over the books. She knew that they were more like diaries and Kol told her that they were basically a witch's toolbox; recipes and spells written down for future generations. Ann admitted that she used some of those recipes as a base for her teas. She felt slightly silly for that, but it had truly helped with her teas. Kol assured her that it wasn't silly at all, that it was amazing how she picked it up and was doing well with it.

It was getting late, and she had retrieved a bottle of wine from her home to share with Kol, as the both of them were sick of tea and she didn't have anything else in her fridge. He thought it was only fair of him to share a bit of his story as she had shared hers, and she was intrigued. She felt so sad for him, a genuine sadness, knowing fully well what it felt like not to be accepted fully into a group of people and in his case, family.

When he came round to telling her about how Bella cured him of a curse, she sighed and nodded. "She has a shield thingy. I don't know, I always see her carrying around some big ass shield of metal as if she's a warrior princess or something. It's quite possible that due to that shield, she managed to lift your curse."

"Warrior princess? Really?"

Ann laughed. "I know, it's completely ridiculous, but yeah."

"Clad in leather?"

"Kol, I doubt your brother would appreciate you envisioning her in leather like Xena, warrior princess," she snorted as she took a sip of her wine. "Or she might even kill you for merely thinking about thinking about it. She does have a temper."

"She doesn't like me."

"Another thing we have in common."

"Ha! True!" Kol was quiet for a moment and then looked at her, with the biggest, goofiest smile on his face as if he was a deranged person. "The smell of your herbs is getting to me, can we take this elsewhere?"

"Like, where?"

"I don't know, your home?"

"Nice try," she laughed as she pushed his head away from her face. The physical touch caused her to see something about his future. Well, not his, but someone close to him. "Uhm… is your mom a person of color?"

"She's inhabiting one now, yes."

"She's going to get killed by a witch, I think. I don't know. Something will happen to her. Would you like to bring her to safety?"

"No," Kol said angrily. "She deserves to die. She created us with a spell that made us immortal; vampires. She's been hellbent on destroying every single one of us for years now. That was why I was brought back, to help her with helping my siblings see reason."

"Are you going to kill her?"

"Me? No. I'm a powerful witch, but even I know not to go against my mother. I'm staying well clear of her after I aligned myself with my brother Niklaus," he replied as he downed his glass of wine in one go. "It's much safer this way. Let her be killed. I don't care."

"Okay. It's your choice."

"Yes it is. Wait, you really saw that?"

"It's a bit unclear, otherwise I would have given you a description of the person who will be the bringer of your mom's demise, but yeah, I saw that. As I said, these things happen all the time," she then cocked her head, almost as if she was finally realizing something. "There's a third reason why you're here. Not because you were sent. Not because you're curious about me, even though you are, but because you need a safe place. You don't feel safe anywhere, do you?"

"I don't know what you mean," he said sheepishly.

"No, I think you know _exactly_ what I mean," she countered, as it was suddenly as clear as day. "You've chosen the side of your brother, but you don't feel safe with him. You're afraid that he'll end up killing you, which is easier now, because you're human. You can't go back to your mother even if you wanted to because she's a scary bitch and you betrayed her. You have no place to go, do you?"

"Ann… Don't go there, please."

"It's alright," she smiled and gently squeezed his hand. "I have a guest room you can use. You can stay for as long as you need."

"I thought you said I wasn't allowed in your home?"

"It's not in my home, silly. It's my old bedroom in the shop's basement. As long as I can trust you not to rob me blind, you're welcome to stay."

"I don't want to bring my troubles on to you, Ann, you're nice. You don't deserve that," he said, looking like a lost puppy. "I can take care of myself."

"The shop is well protected against any sort of intrusion, apart from human intrusions, but you're safe here. Vampires can't come in. I know what your mother looks like now so I can refuse her access during the day. Magic can't find you here. It's untraceable. Something my grandfather did when he was younger." She got up from her seat and pulled him up before guiding him behind the counter and down a flight of stairs. "I used to love it down here. I mainly use this for storage now, but the bed's still there. There's a closet if you need to put some stuff away and it's not much but…"

Before she knew it, she was pushed against a wall and felt Kol's lips on hers. If she were a candle, she was now melting. There had been some tension between them for quite a couple of hours now and she had tried to ignore it, but now that he was kissing her, and she allowed him to, she could feel how he was drawing her in, almost like a magnet.

He parted her lips with his tongue and she allowed him access and before they both knew it, they were half naked. "No," she said with a moan and pushed him away. "No. No. Kissing is fine. But…" she quickly grabbed her shirt and pulled it back over her head. "No. This isn't me. Goodnight."

She ran up the stairs, and took another to enter her home and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding after closing the door. That had been the single most amazing kiss she'd ever experienced! Oh, she wanted more, she longed for more, even now, she could feel an invisible pull towards him in the basement, but she wasn't allowed. No. Not today.

Maybe tomorrow.


	2. Too Many Souls To Save

**A/N: Once again, read meekobb's chapter 5 of Neon Light first before you read this chapter!**

 **Thank you for coming on this adventure with me, it's a lot of fun!**

Sleep had not come easy to her that night. All she could think about was that there was a gorgeous man in her basement and that their kiss had been spectacular. So spectacular, in fact, that she had lost pieces of clothing without being aware of losing them in the first place.

It had taken a hot shower, her overly affectionate rabbit and yet another hot shower before she was capable of settling down for the night. She was up at 6.30 am, like any other normal day, and went on about her business. It was laundry day, so she turned on the washing machine while she switched on her coffee maker. While she was a tea enthusiast, she needed to wake up with a steaming hot cup of Joe or the rest of the day would be ruined.

Ann then started on breakfast. She remembered that she had a guest now, and that she had to make more, and decided to make pancakes. Normally she'd have some granola that she made herself with a little bit of yoghurt, but she felt like she needed to do something extra for her guest. A peace offering for flaking out on him like she had.

She freaked out, big time. For what? Sex. Meaningless sex between two very attractive people and it would have helped her out so much. She felt as if she was a bomb ready to explode. Meditation was going to suck today. Maybe some yoga would help. Or maybe… he'd try again. Oh, she wished he'd try again. The mere thought of him trying it again send pleasurable shivers down her spine. Or maybe, she should make the first move this time.

Whatever this was, she needed to get it out of her system.

She put the breakfast on a tray and made her way downstairs, realizing that she hadn't even bothered getting out of her pyjamas and into her clothes yet. Which was only good, for what she had planned. "Good morning," she announced herself before walking in further and setting the tray on the little side table. "Made you breakfast."

He slowly woke, slightly disorientated for a moment before he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and remembering where he was. "I haven't slept this well in a very long time," he said with a yawn and sat up.

She couldn't fight the gasp that escaped from her mouth when the sheets moved and revealing that he slept without his shirt on. Her thoughts immediately went back to their kiss and looked at him, licking her lips. "I uhm… yeah, I apologize for last night."

"Don't. I'm more curious as to why that happened. Even now, I…"

"Yeah," she nodded so fast that she could have been a yo yo. "I'm not sure if we should… or shouldn't… I don't know."

"I vote for should," Kol said with a smirk. "Get it out of the way. You're obviously tightly wound. Yeah, I heard you knocking about with your rabbit alright."

Her face reddened. "I normally don't do this kind of stuff. This is very out of character."

"Maybe we share a magical connection. We're both witches, I've seen stranger things."

"Well, I haven't."

"We should get this over with, get it out of the way. Trust me, nothing will change between us," he reached for her and pulled her on to the bed. "Unless you're a virgin… that would be awkward."

"I'm not," she said, her face even redder at the memories. "I'm not an innocent, naive girl, Kol. It's just that I don't normally…" she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. "I usually want to know someone a little bit better before I hop in the bed with them."

"Well, I have a feeling I'm going to be sticking around for a while so…" He shrugged as he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear and looked at her with a big smile on his face. "And I think we're no longer strangers after baring our souls yesterday. You know as much of me as I know of you."

"Yeah, you're right."

"Besides, life is supposed to be fun, what fun is there in restricting yourself, conforming to normality?"

"I said, you're right," she grinned as she shifted a little and kissed him greedily, pushing him back onto the bed. She pressed her body against his, she could already feel his hardon pressing against her through his pants and smirked in the kiss. They were so ready for this.

Breaking off the kiss for air, she started to kiss along his jaw, nuzzled his earlobe and kissed her way down his neck. Shifting to a better position to have all access to him, she lifted his arms above his head before looking at him through hooded eyes. "Keep them there, please."

"Why? I want to touch you, it's not fair that you get to touch me."

Ann smirked at that. "Because I asked nicely." Truthfully, while she wanted to feel his hands all over her, she wasn't sure if she was ready for that. Not after the last time. Not yet. He could touch her when she said he could. She kissed along the vein in his neck and scraped her teeth on his collarbone.

"Did-"

"Don't spoil the mood," she briefly placed a hand on his mouth and continued to explore his chest with her lips and fingertips. Every touch sending waves of pleasure through her body, desire growing, building up, but she wasn't going to act upon it. Not yet.

When she reached his pants with her fingers, she opened them and then went on to tug them off of him. She wasn't surprised that he wasn't wearing anything underneath it. Kol did seem to be the type of guy to live dangerously. "Hmm… adventurous, I like," she muttered when she eyed his glorious cock while she kept tugging on his pants. When she was finally victorious, she crawled back onto the bed and took hold of him. "Is it all about paying attention to this wonderful thing for you or do you take pleasure out of something else as well?"

He was slightly taken aback by her question, but couldn't help to let out a small groan. His cock felt so good in her hand, he wanted her to stroke it, to squeeze it. Oh, for her to have it in her mouth and have her suck him dry. Completely dry. His imagination got the better of him and impatiently bucked his hips into her hand.

"Fair enough," she kissed him as she started to move her hand up and down his shaft, giving it the occasional squeeze and tug. She wanted to melt her body into his, completely dissolve and only return to solid form once they both had reached their climax. She needed to be touched. She wanted to be touched.

She wanted him to take control, devour her as she wanted to devour him. But she was having fun stroking him, making him squirm and silently beg for more with the little noises that escaped from his lips during their kiss.

Breaking off the kiss again, she removed her hands from him and kept her eyes him as she got out of her oversized shirt that she liked to sleep in before getting rid of her soaked panties.

"Can I please touch you?" He asked huskily, jerking his head towards his arms that were still above his head. "You are so beautiful, I want to touch you like you've been touching me."

"You're so polite," she countered playfully and nodded. Before she knew it, she was on her back and he was all over her. His lips felt divine on her skin, his hands were expertly roaming her body and she couldn't help but let out a long moan. Her back arched into him when his fingers reached a sensitive spot, digging her nails into his back.

"Oh, I'm far from polite, darling," he whispered in her ear. "But this is our first time, it'd be rude to be rude. I usually take what I want." Kol could feel how his words caused her body to react to him even more, her breath hitched and she used her legs to pin him into place. Grinning softly in her ear, he continued to whisper dirty little secrets while his hand travelled to her pussy.

She let out a gasp when she felt his fingers on her lips below, exploring, caressing. She yelped when he playfully pinched one, before laughing and remembering to breathe. "That was mean!"

"I told you, I'm a very, very rude boy," he said in a low voice before slipping one finger inside of her. She was gloriously wet, she was more than ready to take him, but he wanted to draw it out, have his way with her. Try to make her beg for him to be inside of her. "Just remember to breathe, wouldn't want you to die on me due to oxygen deprivation."

She let out a snort and moaned when his hand was on her breast, teasing her nipple with his fingers for a moment before setting it back down so he could steady himself as he moved his other fingers inside of her. Ann thought that the torment was done, but when his lips captured her nipple and his tongue started to circle it, she lost it. She wanted to unwind, she wanted to fly apart around him. "Fuck me."

"Now look who's rude," he muttered against her breast, sending extra sensations through her body and he was loving it.

Oh, she couldn't think. But it was rude, was it? No, it wasn't. "Please," she eventually moaned, untangling her legs from his body so he was free to do whatever the hell he wanted. But if he'd stop and leave her like this, she was going to kill him.

"Finally," he let out a breath as he removed his hand from her and shifted on the bed. "I was afraid you weren't going to tell me that." Kol kissed her greedily as he hovered over her, his cock pressing against her thigh, leaking and begging to be inside of her. "If this is still going on after we're done, we're going to cast a little spell to find out what it is, okay?"

"Fine, but fuck me first!" Her desperation sounded like music to his ears.

He simply smirked at her as he stared at her face, observing her. The bed was far too small for him to actually not to fall off and he wasn't going to hurt his head. Standing up, he pulled her up as well and lifted her up as he kissed her, wrapping her legs around him as he walked to the closest wall and pushed her against it.

She shivered with pleasure when her back came in contact with the cool wall and moaned into the kiss. Ann wrapped an arm around his neck and moved her other hand between them to grab hold of him and slowly lower herself on to him with a little assist. His lips were on her neck now, and as he started to fill her up, she couldn't help but feel as if they were truly melting into each other.

His cock felt glorious inside of her and he felt happy to be there. Even without the strange pull they both felt towards each other, there was something about Ann that he found intoxicating, freeing, in a way. And maybe it were the effects of smelling all those different herbs in her store, that it altered his brain, not to mention hers, in some way that they'd have to deal with their urges, but if that was the case, Ann would have told him that it had happened before, wouldn't she?

Whatever it was, he didn't feel guilty about this at all. They were having the time of their lives and it felt absolutely fantastic. He didn't move once he was fully inside of her, nice and snug, allowing her to get used to the feeling of him inside of her and she had a delirious look on her face.

She rocked her hips, grinding down on him from her position, to nudge him into moving and after a little shifting, and dragging a box towards them with his foot so she could stand on it, he started to thrust. Long and hard. Long and slow. Long and fast. "Breathe," he reminded her with a grunt.

She had both her arms now wrapped around his neck and had lost all coherency. She came hard when he slightly changed his angle and hit a sensitive spot. Clamping down on him, he followed soon after.

Kol didn't know how, but they made it back to the bed in one piece and she rolled into him after he carefully placed her on the bed. They were both still quite high from their tryst and he found it adorable that Ann was a cuddler. Pulling the covers over them, he made sure that she wouldn't fall off the bed. "That was…"

"Wow," Ann managed to say as she tried to crawl into him by shuffling even further towards him.

"Yes," he nodded as he started to draw circles on her back with his fingertips. "Don't you have a store to open?"

"Later," she murmured and sighed happily. Yes, the need was gone, and she felt so much better. So much more relaxed. She wanted to stay like this forever. This was great.

~o.O.o~

By lunch, they had sufficiently recovered to go on with the rest of the day. Normally, Ann would have opened the shop by now, but she didn't feel like it today. "If you're going to stick around, we're going to need some supplies," she stated as she walked into the store area where Kol was eating his now cold pancakes. "Not to mention, I think you might want to pick up some personal items such as clean clothes?"

"Where do you want to get supplies? There isn't a supermarket nearby."

"The church sells some things. Every two weeks or so I take the bus to the nearest supermarket with a bag on wheels and stock up on the things the church doesn't have."

"For someone who claims not to be religious, you mention that church a lot."

Ann shrugged. "It's my people. My community, of course I go there a lot. Besides, some of the treats they have come straight from Norway and it's just so good…" She grabbed a bag and her purse and grinned. "It's time to go out and do something, Kol."

"Are you sure I can stay in your basement?"

"For now? Sure. We'll see when you can move up to my house," Ann winked at him and opened the door to let him out. "You're also going to need to stop by the pharmacy if we're going to do what we did this morning more often. I'm on the pill, but you can't be sure of anything these days."

He stopped in his tracks when she said that and turned to look at her. "You want us to do that again?"

She shrugged. "It was great, why would we deny ourselves the simple pleasures in life? Besides, we seem to be getting on, so…" Suddenly she felt all insecure again. It was the way that he looked at her, maybe. But to her, it was important to communicate things like this when you had sex with someone, incase it would repeat itself. And if he was going to stay at her place, chances were that it was most definitely going to repeat.

He kissed the top of her head and smirked. "My thoughts exactly. I'll be back in a few hours."

~o.O.o~

It took him a bit longer than expected. Sure, gathering some of his things and going round to the pharmacy had been easily done, but he wouldn't be doing a proper job if he wasn't going to ask around about Ann in the witches' community and maybe a few in the Norwegian community. And just as expected; she turned out to be harmless.

When he got back to her shop, the door was unlocked and he could enter the premises, the smell of food wafting down the stairs from her home. "I'm back, would you want me to lock the door?"

"Please," she answered as her head popped up at the top of the stairs. "Could you put a teaspoon of Hawthorn, a teaspoon of Lavender, a small pinch of Motherworth, and a teaspoon of dried Althea in a teabag for me? In that order? Bring it to me so I can make some tea with it?"

He did as she asked and frowned. "Wait, are you alright?" Kol ran up the stairs and walked over to her, not noticing how her home looked like, but more in what state she was in. She was as pale as a sheet.

"Yeah, I have a headache, that's all. Bad feeling about something and I can't seem to see what's going to happen. I would mix it myself, but I'm keeping an eye on the food here."

"Alright," he said as he put the bag on the counter, dropped his things and directed her to her small living room. "Allow me to make your tea, I'll finish off dinner, you're in no shape to do anything right now."

"I'm fine."

"Not until you get some color back on your cheeks. When did your headache start?"

She sighed as she relaxed into her comfy chair. "A couple of hours ago. It feels like someone's going to make a very bad decision and I am trying to see, but I've never been able to see on command."

He walked back to the kitchen after making sure that she was, indeed, comfortable and started a kettle. "Well, maybe it's something I can help you with. I'm kinda an expert on witches."

"I'm telling you, I'm not a witch," she replied. "I don't know how many times I have to repeat myself. It's getting boring and repetitive."

"What am I supposed to do with the food?"

"Plate it! It's done! I was trying to keep it warm long enough for you to arrive. I would have started dinner in ten minutes."

"Where are the plates?"

Ann groaned as she got up from the chair as if suddenly remembering that he was supposed to be in the basement and not in her home. That of course, he didn't know where everything was. She was halfway when a sudden sharp pain tore through her skull.

He was just in time to catch her as she passed out. "Ann?" Kol lifted her up and placed her on the sofa, her head on a pillow and checked her pulse. She was still alive, but she was unresponsive, unconscious. What the hell happened? He used his magic to turn off the stove and sat with her for awhile, waiting for her to wake up, but she wasn't.

Kol couldn't detect anything wrong with her in the first place, even his magic told him that she was healthy, complete and unconscious. There was no telling when she'd wake up. However, he was worried, and he wasn't going to leave her out of his sight. Instead, he looked around and took in the small home.

The kitchen was part of the living room, and it looked dated. Almost as if he had stepped back in time. Sure, there were the additions of modern technology such as a new stove and a new looking fridge, but the whole atmosphere breathed 'old'.

The living room was more of the same. One glance at it and he would have thought someone else lived here. Old furniture that you'd expect with old people. There was a new chair, that she had been sitting in before passing out, and he suspected that it was hers.

The walls were filled with photos, hiding that the wallpaper was tearing and discoloured. There were pictures of her as a young child, presumably with her parents, and then more pictures of her and her grandparents. They seemed to have loved her very much. In every picture, Ann had a big, goofy grin on her face and a naughty spark in her eyes.

The most intriguing part of the living room was the bookcase. It took up the entire back wall and the books seemed old. They smelled old. When he pulled one from the shelf, he knew that it was ancient. Wondering if Ann had read all of these, he opened the dusty book and started to read.

It was easy to mistake the book for fiction, but he'd been around journals long enough to know that this was a legitimate journal out of 1497. One of Ann's ancestors appeared to have been in what was later known as Newfoundland when John Cabot reached the shore and claimed it for the English. It was a hysterical read, filled with plotting against the English and being banished for witchcraft.

While he had been in his box during that time, he knew that his family was back in the Old World in that period. He remembered a story Nik once told him about compelling some Italian man while they were travelling and to ask King Henry VIII of England to fund an expedition to the New World. Could this have been the same guy?

He was so focused on the story, that he hadn't noticed that Ann had slowly started to come to. "I see how it is," her voice sounded soft, almost as if she didn't want to disturb her headache. "Knock the girl out and go through her stuff. Classy."

"I'm sorry," he said as he put the book back and made his way over to her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been hit by a cement truck," she said, not moving from her spot. "Like something's gone horribly wrong. It wasn't supposed to happen like this."

"What?"

Ann groaned as she pinched her eyes closed, trying to find the right words. "Some witch cast a blood spell to unlock Bella's powers, to awaken her true self. This wasn't supposed to happen this way. It was supposed to go gradually and ow, it hurts."

"Are you connected to her, somehow?"

"I don't know!" She shot at him, wishing she hadn't as it only aggravated her head. "I don't know, okay?" she said quietly. "I don't know. Only that that witch shouldn't have done what she did and that I'm now dealing with the headache from hell."

"Anything I can do?"

"No. Did you eat yet?"

"No, I thought I'd wait for you."

"Go eat. I'm not hungry. In fact, take it all downstairs and eat. Leave me alone," she pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and pulled it over herself. "I'll be fine."

Kol scowled. There was no way that he was going to leave her alone like this. "Fine, I'll just warm up the food and you go and rest," he replied as he got to his feet and walked back towards the food and pretended to clean up and move things for a while before using his magic to heat up the food. He plated up and walked back into the living room where Ann was now sound asleep on the sofa.

He decided to send his brother a text message, asking him if something happened to Bella, but didn't get a response where his brother was usually quick with answering messages. He sent several messages to Rebekah and Niklaus, but even they weren't responding. They were back to their old tricks, weren't they? Push him away, pull the bubble around them even tighter. There was no place for him among them, why did he keep deluding himself?

Deciding there and then that Kol's only responsibility was going to be Ann from now on - he wasn't going to be ignored, damnit, he finished eating and quickly popped down into the store to get some protective and healing herbs to burn for a speedy recovery for his new friend while he'd continue to peruse the books.

His bloody siblings were going to regret ignoring him. He was going to take the piss out of them the next chance that he got.


	3. Inelegant Bones

A/N: This is a companion piece to chapter 6 of Neon Light by Meekobb. Read that one first before reading this one, or read this one first and have a chance to be spoiled.

xx

Buggy

* * *

He had moved her to her bed during the evening as she kept stirring and there was a potential for her to fall off the sofa and had tucked her in. Her bedroom was like an oasis of calmness, peace and relaxation. It smelled of Lavender, and it was beautiful. He felt as if he was intruding on her personal space and headed back to the living room. Kol knew that Ann was probably going to yell at him when she woke up again, for not going to the basement and entering her private haven, but he wanted to be close by so he could keep an eye on her.

Kol had been dozing on the sofa when he heard the door of Ann's bedroom open and her stumbling out of the room. He sat up and nearly got his head taken off by a baseball bat. "Oh, hey!" he called out as he ducked and fell off. "Easy darling, my head is squishy! But an excellent choice of weapon, if I may say so myself."

"What the fuck are you doing in my house?" She grumbled as she dropped the bat. "I could have taken your head off with this thing."

"You do that every morning? What are you afraid of?" he asked when he got back on his feet and looked at her. She didn't look that rested.

"Nothing," she muttered as she made her way to the kitchen. "Why aren't you in the basement?"

"Because I was trying to keep an eye on you after last night. How are you feeling?"

She paused for a moment after switching on her coffee maker and turned around, facing him. After a while, she slowly nodded. "Confused, yeah, I think that's the right word."

"Well, you sound more coherent than you did last night," he replied as he approached her. "You said something about a witch unlocking Bella's powers?"

"That was true," she nodded again and turned to make breakfast. She had some smoked salmon in her fridge after her shopping spree at the Church, and she was going to make sandwiches. "A witch performed a blood spell to awaken Bella's true self. And mine along with it. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, you know."

"You said that too," he acknowledged. "Yours too? But you told me you weren't a witch."

"I don't know what I am, but I do know that Bella's a Valkyrie and to help her, we need to do research on that because that part of me doesn't believe in this shit. Valkyries were supposed to be a myth."

"A Valkyrie? Not a Valkyrie related witch?"

"Oh, no, she's a Valkyrie alright. That image I saw of her before all of this? Yeah, she's a powerful weapon, and there might be more of her because from what I remember from my history lessons from Grandpa, they traveled in flocks," she put some slices of bread in a toaster and sighed, already anticipating his next question. "I don't know how I know she's a Valkyrie, but I know, okay?"

"Okay," Kol made his way over to her and leaned against the kitchen counter, looking at her. "But are you alright? Like… are you feeling any different than yesterday?"

Ann smirked at that. "Depends in what way. I'm a little sore after our adventure, which reminds me, did you-"

"Of course I did," he huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Stop changing the subject."

She nudged him gently with her hip and nearly dropped the salmon on the floor when a wave of images and sounds washed over her. A hand on skin, the sensation pleasurable. She followed the hand as it trailed over the skin and gasped when the hand reached the wet opening, a finger slipping inside. She managed to get the salmon on the counter as she held on to Kol. This vision was far too real to a vision of hers. When the image's point of view shifted, she nearly threw up. "Oh that's gross," she muttered as she shuddered and tried to shake it out of her head. "Oh, that's gross. Oh, it needs to stop. Now. Please, stop."

"Ann? What's wrong?" Kol asked as he gently rubbed her back.

"My ability to see things has… become... annoying," she said with a groan, disgusted by what she was still seeing. Something so private, so tender, and she was witness to it. Well, this wasn't happening now, but in the future, but still. She filled a glass with water and took a few sips from it as the vision finally disappeared out of her head. "Oh, that… I don't want that to happen again."

"Tell me; I can help."

"No, I'm not going to share this with you! It's bad enough that I had to see it! Do you want to know about your brother's sex life?"

"Woah. What?"

"Yeah, that," she grabbed the toast from the toaster and put them on plates before dressing them in some lettuce and salmon. She then grabbed a lemon for some lemon juice to squeeze over it and handed him a plate. "So, is there an off switch for these kinds of things? Because I don't want to see this ever again."

"Uh… I don't know… I'd have to talk to some seers to find out? Probably. I know a harvest girl, maybe she knows something. Would you like me to talk to her?"

"What can a farmer's girl do?" She poured the coffee into two mugs and set them on the table before joining Kol.

"No, I said harvest. The witches have this thing…" he wanted to tell her the story and then looked at her. "Right. You don't know anything about witches."

"Well, I know some things, but not everything. They come into my shop and all, you see," she smirked as she took a sip of her coffee, allowing the hot liquid soothe her throat and warm her bones. While they ate their breakfast, Kol gave her Witch 101, especially about the witches in New Orleans, how they practiced ancestral magic and that every three hundred years or so their power would fade until a bloody sacrifice would be made by four girls, who'd later be resurrected. His friend was one of those witches. "Well, if you think she has some answers on how to deal with the icky stuff, then sure, talk to her."

"Right. I'll do that right before I go my siblings and tell them all about you."

She eyed him sharply.

"Well, that you're harmless and all. Not your deepest, darkest secrets," he said, winking at her. "I'd like to keep those to myself."

Ann huffed as she got up to clear the table. "I need to open the store," she said as she placed the dishes in the sink. "Now that you're up here, you might as well do the dishes for me."

"Sure," he laughed as he watched her retreat to her bedroom to get changed. "But don't you think we should figure this stuff out first, though?" He called after her. "Isn't that more important?"

"Today's the busiest day of the week, I can't just-" her voice sounded before she got quiet again. "Oh, oh, that's just great," she said sarcastically. "I've never heard of this! This is stupid!"

"What is?"

Her head popped out the door and sighed. "I'm supposed to be helping the six Valkyries."

"Six?"

"Bella's not the only one," Ann replied before walking out of her room, fully dressed and taken no time at all. She was brushing her hair as she looked at him. "Uhm... best to take some books to the store and I'll help you research when I can."

"What are you talking about? You supposed to be helping six Valkyries? I haven't heard of that before," Kol said as he walked over to the bookcase, ignoring the journal-like books for now. "I thought they answered to the Gods?"

"How am I supposed to know?" She retorted and poured herself a mug of coffee before walking out the door to the store. "Yuck! Your brother is freaky between the sheets! I need to figure out how to turn this shit off; this isn't funny."

"I didn't need to know that, thanks!" Kol said as he looked at the books and contemplated to text his brother about the latest discoveries, but while he knew that something magical was going on, he wasn't sure what. It would hardly be fruitful if he'd say that something was up but without knowing anything concrete, other than that he and his Valkyrie girlfriend were freaky in bed. That would be embarrassing.

Best was to go and talk to Davina later, see if she had any insights that could help Ann and then tell his siblings about the knowledge he gathered. Starting with these books about Norse Mythology; some looked ancient, others were newer, and the older ones were written in Nordic runes. He was rusty in that language, but he hoped that Ann had lied to him about knowing the language.

He didn't like it when people lied to him; it was easy enough to combat that as a vampire as a simple compulsion would ensure truth. But he loved it as a human, for some reason, despite hating it at the same time. It kept him on his toes. And in all honesty; if Ann had been skating around the edges of truth, she had probably done it for her own protection.

Everything in her house screamed 'protection', now that he thought about it. That the guest bedroom was in the basement, that he wasn't allowed in the house. The way she exited her bedroom with a bat this morning, it had seemed so natural, as if she'd been doing that for a while now. There were protective runes hidden underneath the wall decorations, there was even one carved in the shelf of the book closet, but he hadn't told her that he had found them.

Deep down, she was afraid and he wasn't quite sure why. Either because she had been grown up to believe that everyone was going to be after her, or she'd gone through some pretty nasty stuff. And Kol found himself even more intrigued with her than he had been only two days before.

When he joined her in the store a few minutes later, she was holding her head as she leaned against the counter. The lights were still out, and the store still closed. He put the books on the table and made his way over to her. "Ann, don't focus on what's going on inside your head right now."

"Easy for you to say," she winced as she rubbed her temples. "One of the Valkyries - I don't know who or where they live before you ask - is having a dentist appointment soon and she's not using any sedation. There's this hook they're using to measure bone density and how far it's receded after some serious neglect and it fucking hurts! I swear I'll tell this person to get sedated before she gets into the chair!"

He held her hands and pulled them away from her head while his eyes looked for hers. He felt sorry for her. He knew very well what it was like to have this power and not to have any control over it. The first time he had experienced blood lust after becoming a vampire had been a confusing time, and it took him a while to get it under control. "Breathe," he said kindly. "And I still don't think you're in a state of opening the shop today."

"I'll have to suck it up," she said as she gazed into his beautiful eyes. "This is nothing. I can live with this," she flinched when another image of the hook digging into the gums flashed her mind. "I mean, this is much better than seeing someone get intimate with someone."

"You're not going to stop mentioning seeing Bella and Elijah have sex, are you?"

"Nope. It was… horrific. I mean, I've watched porn but…"

Kol let out a frustrated sigh as he let go of her hands and went to unlock the door and switched on the lights. "How's your Norwegian?"

"Rusty," she shrugged, grateful for the change of subject, as she rounded the counter, took a sip of her coffee and started to put the kettle on. "I know my way around the language, but don't ask me to speak it."

"That's fine," he laughed as he pointed at the books. "I figured I'd bring some of the older ones with me to sift through. I have to admit; I'm not a master of the language anymore either. I am familiar with so many languages, and it's been a very long time…"

"Don't worry, between the two of us, we can figure it out," she smiled at him as she started to prepare for the orders she was surely going to receive today. "Any idea as to why Valkyries are needed in this day and age?"

"Maybe the cosmic energies don't believe we can handle our Aunt Dahlia all by ourselves. Other than that, I'm not aware of any major threat against the world."

"Against the world?" she laughed and shook her head. "Please. It's not as if you're that important."

Kol glared at her, quiet, almost angry before letting a drawn out breath. She really needed to brush up on her local history. "Perhaps not," he said casually before sitting down at the table and opened a book. "But as it happens, not everything my family has done over the past 1000 years comes with mayhem and destruction."

"Oh?"

"Yep. I mean, Elijah often used his power of persuasion and his charm to get the right person in charge when it came to leading a village or a country. I mean, for instance, hadn't Elijah used his influence, the Civil War could have ended more bloody, with far more casualties. Niklaus likes to hang around with the artists. He used to hang around with Peter Parler in the 1300's, an architect who later became head mason of some church in Prague. And in the 1800's, during the height of post-impressionism, he was drinking buddies with Cezanne and Van Gogh. The cutting off the ear thing? Niklaus' fault. Or so he told me."

"Tall tales," she snorted and took a sip of her coffee.

"No, I already told you, Nik and Elijah built this city, haven't you been listening?"

She was quiet for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, yes I have. I'm sorry. Information overload and all… the last two days have been pretty bizarre." She quickly put her coffee underneath the counter and started to make a pot of tea with the recently boiled water as the first customer came in.

It was a couple of witches that she'd seen before, and she couldn't help but notice Kol trying not to be seen and using a book as a cover. She'd ask him about his behavior later. "Denise, good morning," Ann greeted her warmly. "What will it be today?"

"Good morning, Ann," she smiled back and thumbed over her shoulder. "Is that Kol Mikaelson?" she asked in a hushed voice, to Ann just shrugged. "Anyway, do you have some Vetiver Oil?"

"Ah, no," she replied with a smile. "I run a tea shop, not an esoteric oil one. I can, however, give you some Vetivert reeds, if you wish. You can draw your own oil from it, or, make a tea from it."

"Yes, okay, sure. And some dried Juniper berries would be lovely. I can get the other ingredients easy in the supermarket."

"But they won't be organic."

"I don't care; it doesn't matter," Denise smiled as Ann prepared the little bags and handed them over. "How much is it?"

"Free. I think you need to find something and I don't think that parting with your money will help with your journey."

"Ann…"

"What? Whatever it is, it must be important seeing as your companion is trying to grab more sachets," Ann said, looking directly at Denise's partner. "And pick up the pieces of paper and plastic that you've just dropped. Do not mistake my generosity for ignorance or naivety. You have your herbs, and I hope that the next time you come into my store, you'll treat my home with respect."

"Geez, Ann, what's gotten into you?"

"I skipped my meditation," she eventually said with a smile. "Tea?"

"No, thanks. And thanks for the herbs. Come, Jamie," Denise replied as she tugged on her friend's coat and they quickly left the store.

"If you're going to bad mouth every customer you have today, you'd better close up before you alienate your clients," Kol remarked from his spot at the table. "You know, you could open up later if you need an hour to yourself, it's not as if you're currently in your right mind."

"I am," Ann poured herself a cup of the calming tea that she'd been making. "I can do this; I just need to focus."

It took her a few cups of tea to settle her down, and Kol didn't like the line of questioning she had while they explored the books in between helping customers. Such as that technically, his and his siblings were all Vikings - well, biologically, he and Finn could be ruled out, and Rebekah unless she'd returned to her normal self- so was Dahlia, so was Freya, so was Mikael. But Elijah was born in the old world; that's where he differed with the rest of his family.

Kol hadn't liked the question and didn't want to press Ann, but she kept quiet on it anyway. Occasionally, she'd close her eyes and shudder, as if trying to push images out of her mind. Over the course of the day, Ann informed him that two supposedly awakened Valkyries were back to their normal selves after having shown their abilities to mortals, non-supernaturals. Funny enough, that idea could be found in a few of the books there.

The stories about Valkyries varied, but they either were swans or ravens or were depicted as such. Should a mortal see them in their full, Valkyrie glory, they'd turn to swans or ravens for good, for the rest of their lives. It was either that or Odin would either kill them or take away their powers.

Ann was able to tell that these modern day Valkyries, like Bella and the remaining three unknowns, were slightly different than the ones depicted in lore and myths. It had been clear to Ann that Bella had latched on to Elijah, fallen for him immediately as if there had been a magnet pulling her towards him.

Bella escaping the Dowager house with Freya and Rebekah hadn't been a coincidence. Whether they knew it or not, Elijah was Bella's now. Bella didn't have to be responsible for hundreds of warriors. It was the Mikaelsons she was responsible for now and should she have to take one of her 'warriors' to Valhalla, that it would likely be Elijah, as that's who she had taken a liking to.

It was fascinating to see how reading up on the material made Ann awaken even further, the information she came up with was clear, and Kol couldn't find a flaw in her reasoning, although it was still possible that she was making things up. Yes, he hated himself for thinking that way, but it almost seemed too easy.

The books were telling stories about how Valkyries would entertain their chosen warriors in Valhalla by day, making sure they were happy in every way possible - feeding them, having sex with them, cheer them on during mock battles, massages, and everything else that would please a man's ego, so that at night, they would fight for Odin. Ann said that it would likely be another day instead of the night, that time in Valhalla was different and yes, Valhalla still existed. Even with the modern day Valkyries.

"Basically, she's a whore," Kol pointed out.

"A very powerful whore you shouldn't piss off," Ann nodded as she got up to get them some more tea and sandwiches, but she nearly fell and hit her head if it hadn't been for his quick reflexes. "Ow…"

"What is it?" Kol asked worriedly as he set her back on the chair and locked the door to the shop. "Something wrong?"

"I don't know… Bella's up to something. Something really powerful. Everyone's there. It's in a warehouse, and she's on the floor, I don't know…"

"Is she still alive?"

"Yeah… it's possible she tapped herself out… I just… ow, that hurt," she sighed as she rubbed her temples. "She can't keep doing this, she needs to take it easy for a while; this wasn't supposed to happen this way. Her powers needed to come gradually, not at once!"

He lifted her out of the chair again and started to walk her towards her apartment above the shop. "Okay, that's enough for today. Enough research and enough customers and certainly enough visions. You're going to rest, and I'm going to talk to my witchy friend about your visions and then go to my siblings to inform them about all of this. I'll be back later."

"I'm not objecting," Ann said as she had her arms wrapped around his neck. "Will you bring back some food?"

"Of course," Kol huffed. "I'm not a savage!"

~o.O.o~

His first stop was Davina. He hadn't seen her in a while, and he didn't know how long it would take at the compound, so Davina would be great. However, when he arrived at her place, she looked a little worse for wear.

"Davina?"

"What?" She snapped as she readjusted the mountain of blankets over her and sipped her chocolate milk. All she wanted was to sleep or to kill herself or whatever. Sex was good. Maybe Kol would finally have sex with her? "Sorry, I'm uh… a little out of it still."

"What happened?" He asked worried and squatted down in front of her. "You look as if you've been hit by a truck!"

"Because it feels that way!" she whined and poked him in his shoulder. "That little trick of yours, putting your sister in someone else's body came right back and bit us all in the ass!"

He smirked at that. "Really?"

"It's not funny, Kol. She's in- she was sharing her body with the original owner of it. Eva. And she was one bad witch; there's a reason why Dowager House exists. To put the crazy witches in there."

"I was told that Eva showed her face more often," he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and noticed the mark on her forehead. It was fading, but it was still there. "What happened?"

"The lunatic took other kids and me and connected herself with us; that's what," Davina snapped at him. "She had me for days, Kol. Where were you? Why didn't you come and find me?"

He sighed and dropped his head in shame. "Elijah and Niklaus asked me to look into something; I've been preoccupied."

"Something involving that super witch Bella?"

"Not a witch, love," he looked up to her with a smile. "I am sorry."

"Yeah well, tell your sister to hurry up with finding that spell to disconnect us from your other sister, I hate feeling as if she's going to do something wrong even though Eva's been ejected from her own body."

Nodding, he took her free hand and gently squeezed it. "I understand and I will. I know you're tired, love, but could I pick your brain for a moment?"

She shot him an incredulous look. "Seriously?"

"Pardon the words," he said with a slight chuckle. "Let's say… hypothetically, a new witch has come into her powers, and she's a medium or a seer or a fortune teller. As she still needs to learn to deal with them, every bit of information, every ghost, comes at her all at once. What could she do to hold them off?"

"Nothing. It's something she has to figure out on her own because everyone's different. Some witches I know meditate a lot or use herbs or whatever," she replied with a shrug, but then her eyes widened. "You've been dealing with one? Do you have any idea what your brother could do if he had a seer on his side? Kol, you need to make sure that your brother won't put his hands on her, he'd be even more of a menace than he already is."

"Relax, darling," Kol snorted. "I doubt she has any intention of walking amongst us."

"But he already has Bella. Well, Elijah has. Klaus would want something powerful of his own."

"He currently has two sisters who are witches and would do anything he wanted. Don't worry about him getting a seer or whatever the hell she is."

"If you say so," she sighed as she handed him her mug and laid down on the couch. "Was that it?"

"Go to sleep, darling. I'll come by soon, I promise." He placed the mug on the table and kissed her forehead before getting to his feet. "Thank you for confirming what I already knew."

"You're welcome," Davina yawned as she pulled her blankets closer and closed her eyes. "Don't forget to shut the door…"


End file.
